Countdown to Rick Nash's contract expiration:

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Thanks to a heads up from a poster in the comments (thanks June!) we learned yesterday from this blog that the Traverse City Tournament will be televised on the NHL Network.

Hey — big news! If you’d like to see Filatov, Mayorov and lots of other top rookies and prospects play, including Steven (Don’t Call Me Steve) Stamkos, the NHL Network has just announced it will televise the entire Traverse City tournament, starting on September 14. These are not live telecasts, but so what? We got the email from the NHL Network PR department telling us of the telecasts, but nothing has yet shown up on their website or on NHL.com

Tape delayed isn't ideal but its much better than not being able to see it all. I'll gladly take it! For Time Warner customers its channel 590 but you have to call and add the sports tier its on -- I think its like 5 extra bucks a month.

The first game is Saturday Sept 13th @ 3:30 p.m. against Minnesota.

Update: NHL Network has updated their TV schedule for the tournament here.

Jackets television schedule:

Mon Sept 15th - Jackets vs. Stars10:00 p.m.

Tues Sept 16th - Jackets vs. Stars

4:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

4:00 p.m.

Fri Sept 19th - Medal games

2:00 a.m. Third place game

4:00 a.m. Gold place game

8:00 a.m. Third place game10:00 a.m. Gold place game

2:00 p.m. Third place game4:00 p.m. Gold place game

So looks like only one game against the Stars is televised unless they get to the medal rounds. The Jackets even get hosed on televising an 8 team prospect tourney.

That same blog has some interesting quotes from the new kid on the block in regards to playing wing versus center:

Filatov trained for a while during the off-season with Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk among others, and the Caps star gave little Nikita some advice on his new adventure: “Sasha Overchkin, whom I’ve known a long time, advised me not to play center at first until I learn how the physical game is played overseas. I’ll learn only if I play left wing. If I play center, I won’t be able to play my game. Of course, I’ll listen. Ovechkin is the best player in the world right now and it would be foolish of me to not pay attention to his advice.”

About having his IIHF transfer investigation dropped by the KHL, he said, “I did not worry about this, when it was taking place. I was not able to change anything, but still hoped for a good ending to the story. The ban was to be playing for the national team, I do not think that anyone could benefit from this. But now all these problems are behind me, and for that I’m very thankful.”

"I'm so excited," Filatov said. "Beautiful building, great (dressing room). You can't imagine. It's so different (from Russia).""I feel like I'm ready," Filatov said. "I've trained hard this summer, very hard. I did off-ice conditioning for six weeks, and I've been on the ice more than a month now.

"The main goal is to make the Blue Jackets. Once I finish all this training camp, have the (prospects) tournament (next weekend in Traverse City, Mich.) and then the preseason, the goal is to finish it and be on the first team."

He's trained his entire life for this opportunity and I'm sure its an exciting time in his life. I know there are a bunch of fans (..and coaches and even players) who are excited to see what this kid can bring to the table.

Of course I don't want to raise expectations but I've heard his game compared mostly to two guys -- Datsyuk and Bure. That is fine company so we'll see soon enough. Don't expect him to come out and put up sick numbers right off the bat though -- remember this kid is only 18.

He hits the ice today with the other players in town. I don't know if practice is open to the public but if anybody happens to make it down there and catches a glimpse be sure to let us all know what you thought in the comments.

The Puck Daddy blog over on Yahoo.com (as pointed out by Rick!) has their season preview of the Jackets up.

Some highlights include his grades of the Jackets:

Forwards: BDefense: CGoaltending: BSpecial Teams: C+Coaching: A-Management: B (maybe this goes up a notch if Umberger proves himself as a center).

...and his prediction:

Anyone who says they have this team figured out is fooling themselves. There's every chance Hitchcock could take this roster and create a playoff team out of it. There's every chance the team's top line meshes, and Nash scores 50 goals. There's every chance Leclaire is in the Vezina conversation again, or that some of these No. 1 picks start playing like one. There are few other teams in the NHL right now that have this strikeout or home run dichotomy like Columbus does. I can't, in good faith, predict this team will make the postseason, because the Western Conference is too tough. I want them to, for the sake of the franchise and its underrated fan base. But I look at the 12 teams who finished in front of the Jackets last season, and I have a good idea who each of their second-line centers are. In Columbus, not so much. And that's scary.

Its certainly a unique and entertaining read so check it out. Plus he also gives a shout out to LTL which I always appreciate!

13 comments:

Any reporter/blogger that rates our offense higher then our defense has not been paying attention, but it was a good read and I agree with most of Puck Daddy's opinions..

Anyways I have a question for LTL and all their readers... this has been bugging me for a while..

Fritsche is a pretty solid and flexible 3rd line player, he seemed to fit the system and his effort and energy was much appreciated.. BUT before he was traded he was part of every single trade rumor for the year, going back 10-11 months.. This is a good indicator that he was being shopped around for months, does anyone know why?? Did he not fit? Didn't like Hitch ? Not a good teammate ?? Who can give me the dirt on this one?? Why was he so expandable, there must have been something going on in the locker-room... please enlighten me..

All in all I think Fritsche was moved to make room for younger players and from the Fritsche camp it was time for a change of scenery as there had been rumblings of he and his agent (read: uncle) wanting a bigger role higher in the lineup which he hadn't earned here.

Also take into consideration that he was an RFA this offseason and judging how the negotiations with MacLean unfolded last go around perhaps the Jackets were also ready to move on.

I think Fritsche is going to have a solid yet unspectacular career in the NHL but I see him as one of those guys who will be traded quite a bit during it. He's a valuable energy guy that teams like but are willing to part with to make a deal.

It should be interesting to see how all of the former Jackets perform with their new clubs next season.

I agree with LTL on this one. I liked Fritsche and my wife was/is in love with him! All in all he was the same guy as a chimera but a little slower, a malholtra without the faceoff ability, boll with out the fighting, etc. We had a lot of guys that were similar but that other teams just did not want because of age, contract (term or money) etc. He was the most trade friendly at the right age. Hate to see him go, but i am looking forward to the upcoming year!!!!!

He looked bigger in person then I thought he would be from all the videos I have seen online. He wasn't the smallest guy on the ice like I thought he would be. Porty's report of him being around 180 seemed close. (wonder how much padding was under his jersey)

It was hard to say who he was comparable to because of the relaxed flow of the scrimmage. His skating was very smooth and he seemed to be always looking for open ice.

He also spent a lot of time camped out in front of the net. I was kind of shocked in that since we really haven't had many guys in CBJ sweater do that in the past.

Not part of your question, but I did see him joking around and laughing with some of the other rookies during breaks in the scrimmage which was kind of nice to see. (unlike other Russians we have had on the team!)

Howson hinted to part of it this offseason when he said that Fritsche wanted more ice time (top 6) and Howson told him he likely wasn't going to get it here.

Beyond that, as others have indicated, he was redundant. He didn't seem to have much in the way of offensive instinct and he made some idiotic comments before one game last year. Trying to remember the game.

"Nikita Filatov looked like a great skater, but he wasn't that sharp with the puck. Two things to consider: this was, essentially, a game of shinny; and the kid is probably jet-lagged from traveling half way around the world."

"Umberger is a beast."

Also, some public service announcements:

"Kinsale Golf And Fitness Club is hosting a Blue Jackets pool party on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The public is invited. I'm told two Blue Jackets players will make appearances. A drink on me at the (New) R-Bar to anybody bold enough to cannonball off the diving board."

Standings

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